The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Just when the courtiers of the Ming Dynasty were paying attention to the Xuan Mansion, the guard of the Great Wall pass in Funing, Jidong, was panting and running up the city wall.

After climbing the city wall, I didn't have time to rest, so I lay down on the crenel and looked out. Sure enough, I saw bursts of smoke rising in the distance.

"General Bai, please set off the beacon as a warning. The Tatars are serious."

The guard on duty at Baihu had long been forced by the momentum of the cavalry outside. Seeing the billowing dust rushing towards them, he hurriedly said to his superiors.

"Is there any reward? How many Tatars are there outside the customs? Which one is it from?"

Bai Wenzhi, the guard general of Yishiguan, stared at him for a while, and after confirming that the enemy invaders were indeed coming for him, he asked hurriedly.

"In front of half a stick of incense, there is a patrol horse returning to the city. It should be the Donglu Tuman Black Carboniferous tribe, with about ten thousand people."

The hundred households said hurriedly.

"Set the beacon fire as a warning and summon the soldiers to the city wall to defend. There must be no mistake."

While observing the enemy situation outside the pass, Bai Wenzhi issued an order: "Send someone to fly to Shanhaiguan City on Pegasus to ask for help, and ask the garrison to send reinforcements quickly."

The closest city to them, which was heavily guarded by the Ming army, was Shanhaiguan. Where could they go if they didn't ask for help?

With more than 2,000 men in his own hands, he could not stop Donglu's attack no matter what. The opponent had tens of thousands of troops.

Outside Guancheng is the end of the eastern section of the Yanshan Mountains. Outside Guancheng are dangerous peaks and deep ravines, and behind Guancheng is a flat plain.

A stone pass has always been an important flank barrier of Shanhaiguan, so a solid city wall was built here in the early Ming Dynasty, known as the "First Pass in Jingdong".

Thick smoke billows from the beacon tower in the distance, warning to the distance, while a large group of soldiers in Guancheng climb onto the city wall under the leadership of the commander, and the soldiers are busy carrying various weapons for city defense from the arsenal to the city wall. The city suddenly became a busy scene.

While they were busy preparing, the Donglu vanguard troops also approached the city wall. A group of Tatar soldiers had dismounted, quickly approached with arrows in hand, and stopped some distance away from the city wall.

Of course, Bai Wenzhi knew that the section of the city wall they chose should be the area they wanted to attack this time, so he immediately ordered several soldiers from hundreds of households to lead reinforcements.

While the Tatars were busy building siege equipment outside the city wall, a fierce long-range battle broke out between the two sides.

The Tatars fired clusters of arrows at the city wall, and the Ming army on the city also launched a counterattack.

"Don't use firearms until the Tatars attack the city."

Bai Wenzhi was already here and gave the order directly.

He understood that although he had many firearms in his hands, the ability of these weapons to continue fighting was only slightly better than that of archers. Once they continued to fire, they would soon have heating problems. At this time, if they continued to load gunpowder, they would easily explode.

Now, although the distance of the Tatars is within the range of firearms, it is on the edge of the range of firearms. It is not very powerful and has no accuracy.

However, since the Tatars did not intend to take advantage of it today, he also ordered people to transport the large Folang machine guns equipped on Guancheng to be used when the Tatars attacked the city.

The archers on both sides did not aim directly at the enemy, but shot arrows at a 45-degree angle into the sky. As for whether they could hit people, it depends on God's will, just to create some chaos in the other side's camp.

Of course, the Tatars hoped to use a rain of arrows to create a vacuum zone on the Ming army's city wall, so that a ladder could be built to attack the city in a short while, while the Ming army would target the opponent's archers.

The Tatars are very good at riding and shooting. If they can shoot the enemy's archers at this time, there will be fewer archers participating in the siege later.

Soon, the Tatar side seemed to be well prepared. More Tatar soldiers with scimitars in their hands carried more than 20 ladders and quickly approached the city wall. Behind them, more Tatar archers joined in the shooting. , and for a time, he temporarily suppressed the Ming army archers on the city wall.

However, as the Tatars approached, several large Folan cannons began to fire rapidly. Hot projectiles rushed into the Tatar attack queue, passing through bloody alleys. For a while, screams rang out from the city.

At this moment, the Tatar brigade finally arrived. More archers rushed under the city wall to shoot with the Ming army, and more ladders began to be assembled.

"General, the Tatars seem to be well prepared."

The captain of the soldiers behind Bai Wenzhi shouted loudly in his ear.

At this time, the Fran cannon was firing rapidly, and the sound was too low to reach his ears.

Bai Wenzhi nodded, his face gloomy.

Although it is difficult to accurately calculate the number of Tatars outside the city at this time, it should be about 10,000 people.

After the previous exchange of fire, archers on both sides suffered casualties, but the Ming army was obviously more disadvantaged.

For no other reason than because there are few of them.

At this time, the Tatars outside the city were approaching the city wall. Bai Wenzhi waved his hand fiercely, and more than 300 muskets stuck out of the crenellations of the city wall. They fired a volley at the Tatars below. After the firing was completed, the gunmen immediately retracted the muskets. Crouch behind the city wall and use the wall as cover to start reloading ammunition.

The sub-cartridge of the Franco machine gun has completed one round of firing, and the secondary gunner is still loading nervously. As soon as the loading is almost completed, the Ming army gunner will fire it out immediately.

But by this time, the previously mighty artillery offensive had stalled and was no longer as ferocious as before.

"Go and bring the people from the Western Wall to three hundred households teams."

The Tatars had a large number of men and horses, so they naturally would not choose mountainous areas that were difficult to march. Instead, they would place their attack target here in Guancheng, where the terrain is relatively flat, which would give Bai Wenzhi the opportunity to calmly deploy his troops.

Soon, Ming soldiers from the west wall section began to gather on Guancheng and participate in the defense.

When ladders were put up on the city wall, a fierce offensive and defensive battle finally broke out on the top of a stone pass.

When a fierce battle broke out at a stone pass in Jidong, the beacon fire of the Great Wall finally reached the Santun Camp of the General Military Mansion of Ji Town.

The advantages of beacon towers are clearly demonstrated at this time. Information hundreds of miles away can be quickly transmitted through beacon towers, regardless of the restrictions of complex terrain.

As for the area where the Great Wall was built, except for Shanhaiguan, which is the beginning of the Liaoxi Corridor and is a wide open area, almost all other places were built on winding mountains.

Wangshan ran to death. One can imagine the difficulty of delivering messages under such terrain conditions.

Although the defenders along the Great Wall of the Ming Army were able to convey military information through relays, they were not as quick as beacon fire.

Santunying is located in the west of Qianxi County, Ji Town, connecting Zunhua to Beijing in the west, and Qian'anke to Shanhaiguan in the east. It took the Ming Dynasty more than ten years to finally select the headquarters of the General Military Mansion in Ji Town, because it is the right place. Located in the middle section of the Great Wall in Jizhen, there are abundant rivers nearby that can ensure water sources for tens of thousands of troops, and the transportation is extremely convenient.

In the General Military Mansion of Ji Town, Acting General Hu Zhen has received news that there is a war in the east. From the beacon smoke, it can be seen that the scale of the Tatar invasion is not small.

"Besides my personal barracks, what other troops are there in Guancheng?"

The war a month ago caused the Ji Zhen Ming army to mobilize their troops and almost ran back and forth along the Ji Zhen Great Wall.

Although the war was over, after the orders to return to camp were conveyed to the various ministries, the various ministries of the Ming Army would not rush to the Santun camp, but slowly return to the camp. They were really tired.

As the acting commander-in-chief, Hu Zhen was unwilling to exploit the soldiers. He was worried about causing resentment among the soldiers, so he simply let it go.

However, who would have thought that in just one month, the Tatars would make a comeback, but this time the target would shift from Jixi to Jidong.

At this point, Hu Zhen realized that he didn't have many available troops for the time being.

"The infantry camp has Gu Huan, Li Huaide and other troops available for use, and the cavalry and guerrilla Dong Yiyuan's troops are in full swing."

"Quickly send an order to Dong Yiyuan to immediately lead his army eastward for reinforcements. Along the way, he notified the three guards of Xingzhou, Yongsheng, and Funing to be ready to fight at any time.

The infantry camp was also immediately prepared to set out with me early tomorrow morning. Notify nearby ministries to move east immediately. "

Hu Zhen immediately issued an order for his soldiers to go down with the order arrows to deliver the order.

Ji Town's tens of thousands of troops have recently mobilized their troops and are running around. They have only fought a few battles, but they are already exhausted of men and horses. Hu Town has to consider using the local garrison to assist in the battle.

The Jidong Three Guards are naturally the first choice to participate in the war. After all, their geographical location determines that they can reach the battlefield quickly.

Beacon Tower has obvious advantages in the speed of transmitting messages, but it cannot accurately transmit complex information. However, in this era, it is still the best communication method.

Dong Yiyuan, who was still waiting in the camp, did not dare to delay for a moment after receiving the order arrow. He led the cavalry directly out of the Santun camp and galloped towards Qian'an.

In just over a month, Jizhen encountered two large-scale Tatar attacks. Hu Zhen's military orders naturally caused a flurry of excitement wherever they went.

For the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty in Jizhen, although they received much more military pay than those in the inland guards, they could not get enough pay. They were also deducted by the superior officials, but the skin they peeled off was slightly thinner.

However, such rapid advance of troops was also a great test for the morale and physical fitness of the soldiers, and there were a lot of complaints among the armies.

However, who cares about their voices to Shangguan.

Liu Tao, the governor of Jiliao, also rushed to Jidong immediately after hearing the news. Along the way, the Ming army was constantly urged to advance by him.

At this time, the capital has also seen the beacon fire ignited again on the Great Wall of Ji Town.

For the capital, this was the third major military intelligence report it had received in a short period of time. There were tens of thousands of invaders and cavalry.

Under such pressure, the people in the capital undoubtedly felt that the sky was about to collapse and the earth was about to collapse, and the tense atmosphere suddenly arose again.

At nightfall in Prince Yu's Mansion in the capital, Zhang Juzheng, Wei Guangde and others were also urgently recalled by the palace servants to discuss the current situation.

The crisis in Xuanfu has not yet been resolved, who would have thought that Jidong would start fighting again.

"Dark clouds threaten to destroy the city."

Zhang Juzheng said such words under repeated military emergencies.

"Shan Loi, do you think the Jidong war was also arranged by Anda Khan? Is there any back-up plan behind it?"

While Zhang Juzheng lamented that the current situation was terrible, he did not forget to ask Wei Guangde.

Perhaps this was because Wei Guangde had told him about the power of Anda Khan before. Zhang Juzheng was a little helpless under the repeated Mongolian attacks.

Wei Guangde lowered his head and rolled his eyes, and could only mutter in his heart: I don't know where to go, and it's not the roundworm in An Dahan's stomach.

He lowered his head and rolled his eyes, not daring to let them see.

After all, if you don’t even know which Mongolian tribes attacked the Jidong Great Wall, how can you tell whether it was Anda Khan’s arrangement.

Almost all the Mongolian tribes close to the Ming Dynasty were subdued by Anda Khan, but there were also tribes who only obeyed and disobeyed, and may not all obey his orders.

Attacking the Ming Dynasty was like hitting an egg with a stone for small and medium-sized tribes. Large tribes looked more at their own interests and may not sincerely obey Anda Khan's orders.

In such a short period of time, Anda Khan could issue combat orders to the large Mongolian tribe in Jidong, and they would still obey them unconditionally?

Seeing that Wei Guangde didn't answer, Zhang Juzheng said again: "Shandai, I heard you talk about how powerful An Dahan is and how good at layout I have not taken it seriously before, but this time it really opened my eyes.

After Miyun took action, he continued to attack east and west in Xuanfu and Jidong in such a short period of time. The crisis in Xuanfu was not resolved, and Jidong encountered war again.

It's so powerful that you don't even know which of the two paths is the feint and which is the main attack.

If there is a back-up plan, that would be really scary. "

When Wei Guangde heard what Zhang Juzheng said, he raised his head and glanced at him, also thinking about what the Jidong war was about.

Now we only know that there seems to be another war in the east of Ji Town, because the beacon towers in Jidong and Jixi are different.

This time, because there was too little information, Wei Guangde didn't say much for the first time.

It goes without saying that the situation of the Ji Town army must be very bad.

"Let's wait until the army reports to Beijing. We don't know how many people there are in the army."

Wei Guangde sighed and said: "As for what I said during the day, contacting more people to submit a report to refute the ban on sea, let's rest. Let's not cause trouble for His Majesty."

At this time, Li Fang, who usually never left King Yu's side, quickly walked into the room, raised his hands to King Yu and others and said: "Your Highness, ladies and gentlemen, a decree has just been passed down from Xiyuan, ordering the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and the Hanlin Academy Yan Na, the bachelor, Li Chunfang, the Minister of Rites and a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, and Dong Fen, Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Personnel and a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, all went to Xiyuan, just like the example of Xun Fuchen."

"Is the imperial meeting in Xiyuan still over?"

King Yu frowned and asked.

"No, Mr. Xu Ge and Yang Shangshu did not come out, but some servants went out to convey the order and summoned the three adults to enter Xiyuan immediately."

Fires were lit all over Shiguan City in Jidong. Groups of Tatars abandoned their horses and rushed towards Guancheng, climbing up ladders to attack.

Attacking a city with ants is the most cruel and bloody way of war in the cold weapon era.

When entering a siege war, both warring parties actually have no strategies to use. They just have to face each other head-on and decide which side has the stronger will to fight.

The Tatars took turns carrying shields to attack Guancheng guarded by the Ming army, climbing up the erected ladders. The archers also took turns throwing arrows at the city wall to cover the infantry in attacking the city.

Being able to do this is undoubtedly the absolute reason for superiority in military strength.

For the Mongolian generals, if they could not break through the city gate in a short time, the battle would be impossible to fight after the Ming army reinforcements arrived.

Although his men suffered heavy losses, the Ming army on the city wall would not feel much better.

At this time, General Bai Wenzhi had already sent the maximum amount of troops that could be mobilized on the surrounding city walls to Guanqiang. The exchange of fire between the two sides caused the Ming army to suffer heavy losses.

At this point in the battle, we can only look forward to reinforcements from the nearby Shanhaiguan Pass. Otherwise, if the Tatars risk their lives to attack the city day and night, a stone pass will not be saved no matter what.

Calculating the time, the messenger he sent should have arrived at Shanhaiguan. He only hoped that he could send people overnight to rescue him, but the time was getting longer.

Bai Wenzhi really couldn't imagine the consequences.